


Tarnished Silver

by Bandgeek18, Iron_Yokai



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Anxiety, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Stockholm Syndrome, sorry but not sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6252733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandgeek18/pseuds/Bandgeek18, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iron_Yokai/pseuds/Iron_Yokai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tarnish: verb. To lose, or cause to lose luster or shine, especially when exposed to Basco.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So me and my friend wrote this together. All the odd chapters are her and even chapters are me. If you didn't read the tags, I'll warn you again, this is dark. So go look at the tags. Ok? You've all been warned. 
> 
> Disclaimer: we don't own Gokaiger and once you read this you'll be happy we don't

Captain Marvelous looked around the main cabin at his crew, feeling a distinct feeling that something was wrong. He quickly took a head count and realized that Gai was missing from the group. It really should have been obvious, given the lack of screeching about Super Sentai for the past few hours.

"Hey, has anyone seen Gai?" The other members of the crew stopped their various activities and looked around at Marvelous' words. 

"I think he said something about going out shopping," said Doc after a moment of thinking, “He didn't say when he'd be back though."

"He probably got distracted by something shiny," Luka added with a grin. Ahim giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Gai-san is rather easily distracted." Despite his crew members' assurances Marvelous still felt uneasy. 

"He's fine Marvelous. Stop scowling," Marvelous looked over at Joe, who had paused in his usual exercise routine. 

"I'll stop when that idiot comes back," he turned back to Doc, "Trace his cellular and we can drag him back here." Doc looked slightly exasperated at his captain's insistence that something was wrong but got up to trace the cellular anyone. It was the easiest way to pacify Marvelous. He typed in the tracking code for Gai's cellular and was shocked to find that it was offline.

"What? What's going on?" He tried again with the same results. By this point the rest of the Gokaigers had gathered around the monitor and were all staring in surprise at it.

"Could Gai-san's cellular have been damaged somehow and that's why it's appearing as offline?" Doc shook his head, hurriedly typing to try and figure out a solution.

"No, even if it was damaged I should still be able to track it. The only reason it should be offline is if the signal is being blocked somehow. But there's nothing in the city that's able to block it and Gai would have called if the Zangyack had done something." Marvelous glared at the screen displaying the 'offline' message.

"We're going to look for him. Split up into groups and search everywhere in the city." They all nodded. It was obvious now that something truly was wrong and if one of their own was in trouble then it was their job to help.


	2. Chapter 2

Gai moaned and opened his eyes slowly. He blinked as his vision swam as he tried to regain his bearings. He heard a familiar laugh somewhere nearby and frowned. He lifted his hands to his face and heard a clinking sound. He stared confused at the shackles locked securely around his wrists. He blinked and his vision came into focus. He realized, once more, that he was in shackles and sat up very suddenly. He immediately regretted the decision as it made his head hurt for a minute. He heard more laughter and looked in the direction of it.

"You're not a very hard person to catch off guard," Basco noted from here he stood. He smirked at Gai from across the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Basco," Gai mumbled. Of course it was Basco. Because why wouldn't it be? He looked around himself suddenly remembering something. This made Basco laugh again.

"Looking for this?" Basco asked, holding up Gai's cellular. "Like I said, too easy."

Gai stood up slowly, not wanting to faint in front of Basco. "What do you want?" he asked, walking towards the bars of his cell.

"I want many things, Gai-chan. Grand powers being one of them. But, that's not something I want from you."

"What do you want from me?" Gai clarified.

"Oh that's an easy one." Basco stood up straight and smiled in a way that honestly chilled Gai to his core. "Knowledge." It was not initially as bad as Gai had thought it would be. Then he began to realize how bizarre of an answer it really was.

"Knowledge?"

"Yes. You see, I know that you know a lot about super sentai. You know who they are, what they look like, and where they are."

"Get to the point."

"I'll get to the point when I feel like it," Basco snapped, suddenly looking slightly more serious. "Remember who captains this ship, Gai-chan."

Gai wanted to tell the 'captain' not to call him that, but he figured that would just make Basco use it more. "Are you still going to get to the point?"

Basco chuckled. "I will, but not because you said so. I'm going to use your knowledge to steal more grand powers." He smiled when he saw Gai shaking his head. "You doubt me?"

"I most certainly do. I'll never tell you what you want to know. Ever."

Basco laughed again. The laughing was really getting on Gai's nerves at this point. "Oh Gai-chan," he smiled as he walked closer to the cell. "You say that like you have a choice. You will tell me what I want."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will. I don't care if you have a sudden change of heart, or if I have to force it out of you, and believe me I do have my ways," he stood right in front of the cell and reached out. He grabbed Gai by his shackles and pulled forward. Gai was still not fully recovered from the whole being knocked unconscious and stumbled forward with the movement. He winced as Basco jerked his entire body into the bars. "you will tell me." He let go and Gai watched as he started to walk away.

"My friends will find me," he warned Basco. "Marvelous won't stop until he gets me back."

"I have no doubt that Marvey-chan will find you eventually. They can't track you here with your cellular. And when he does find you, what is he going to do? He wouldn't risk anything happening to you. Face it, I have him trapped just as much as you." Basco started laughing again, making Gai want to hit his head off the bars. He wrapped his hands around the metal as Basco left. The door shut, leaving the silver gokaiger alone.

Gai sighed and rested his forehead against the bars. "My friends will come. They'll come. They'll save me. I know they will."


	3. Chapter 3

They were two hours into their search and Marvelous was getting more and more irritable with every second that passed. Predicting that this would happen Ahim had been chosen as the person to accompany Marvelous, so that he wouldn't kill any civilians out of pure frustration.

"Marvelous-san, you should do your best to calm down. Being upset won't help us accomplish our goal." He glared over at her and Ahim stared sternly back. She had gotten used to seeing Marvelous glaring and it no longer fazed her. After a moment Marvelous looked away from her.

"Something bad might have happened to Gai. I'm not going to calm down until we've found him and beat the hell out of whoever might have hurt him." Ahim sighed and nodded, her tense posture betraying how worried she was.

"I understand. But acting out of frustration won't do anything except hinder our search." Marvelous was about to respond when his Mobirates went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered his call.

"Did you find anything?" 

"We weren't able to find anything," was Luka's response, "And I'm gonna guess you guys didn't find anything either." Marvelous' grip on his Mobirates tightened.

"Get back to the Galleon, we're running a search for his cellular again."

"But Marvelous I wasn't able to find-"

"Just get back to the Galleon and do it! There has to be some way to find it so figure it out!" There was silence from the receiver of the Mobirates.

"Fine," came Doc's curt reply before the call was cut off. Marvelous shoved his Mobirates back into his pocket and abruptly turned before punching a nearby wall. Ahim gasped and rushed over to Marvelous. She grabbed his arm and quickly checked his hand to make sure he hadn't done any serious damage. However, he simply yanked his arm back and stormed off in the direction of the Galleon.

"Marvelous-san! Wait!" She ran to catch up to him and grabbed his arm again, causing him to stop.

"What?" 

"You were too harsh with Doc-san and you might have just harmed yourself! None of this is going to help Gai-san!" Marvelous just stared at her. He had never heard her really raise her voice to anyone, especially not the other members of her team.

"...... You're right." Ahim breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his reply and let go of Marvelous' arm.

"Thank you Marvelous-san. Now we should join the others at the Galleon." It was silent as they walked back but, luckily, Marvelous was less tense than he had been before. When they made it back to the Galleon the other three Gokaigers were already there. Doc was typing furiously at the main terminal with Luka and Joe on either side of him. None of them looked up when Marvelous and Ahim entered the room.

"Any progress?" Doc quickly glanced up at Marvelous, never stopping his typing.

"Not yet but I'm working on it." From the tone of his voice Marvelous could tell that Doc was still annoyed that Marvelous had snapped at him earlier. Marvelous put a hand on Doc's shoulder, getting his attention once again.

"Don't overwork yourself, got it?" Doc looked at Marvelous in surprise and confusion before nodding.

"Don't worry. I can handle this. I'll find Gai."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where all those torture warnings start to come into play so I'll add one final warning. This chapter, and story, contain elements of physical/psychological torture and graphic violence. If those are things you can't handle then now would be a good time to stop reading.

Gai waited a few minutes to make sure he didn't hear Basco coming back. He nodded to himself and went back to the grate. He did his best to pull at it, not being able to move his hands too far apart. He managed to work his way around it, gently pulling it out of the wall. He smiled when he had removed it and set it on the ground gently. He waited a second to make sure he didn't hear anyone coming, then climbed into the vent. He winced as the chain from his shackles clanked loudly on the metal beneath him. He gathered up the chain in his hands and tried to crawl with his arms.

 

This made it very difficult, considering the fact that the space around him was very small and not easy to move in. He tried to move as silently as possible. He knew that escaping past Basco would be difficult. He could only hope that the ship was landed somewhere, otherwise he'd have a real problem. He wondered where the vent would let out and what he would do after that. He still needed his Gokai cellular back. And his ranger key. He smiled when he saw another grate coming up and headed for it. He pushed it open and crawled out of the vent.

 

"Very smart Gai-chan." Gai felt his heart sink when he heard Basco's voice. He turned to see the villain smirking at him. "Almost as smart as when some of your friends tried it once before." He reached down and grabbed Gai by the arm, hauling him to his feet. Sally laughed and followed the two of them as Basco dragged the gokaiger back. Gai tried to pull away or get Basco to let go but it was to no avail. "Now, Gai-chan," Basco said as Sally opened the cell door. "I'm going to give you some ground rules, since obviously you're going to make this difficult.

 

"Rule number one," he threw Gai onto the ground in the cell. "no escaping. Not even an attempt. Every time you try, I'll be forced to punish you." He suddenly put his foot on one of Gai's legs and put all of his weight into it. Gai screamed in pain. He figured Basco must have some kind of super strength or something, because he felt something in his leg snap. He screamed even more, which made Basco smile more. "Have I made my point?" Gai didn't think it mattered at this point. His leg was broken, there was no chance he could run. "Rule number two, never lie to me. Because I will know if you are. And the consequences," he kicked Gai as hard as he could in the ribs, causing him to roll over and scream more. "will really not be fun."

 

Gai tried to focus and breath as pain shot through his chest. He was pretty sure Basco had broken a couple of his ribs. "Rule number three," he continued, circling Gai as the silver gokaiger moaned on the ground. "you are not allowed to talk unless I say you can. Again, break this rule," he smiled and slammed his foot onto Gai's head, slamming it into the floor. Gai yelled again as the pain radiated through his skull. "and the punishment will be painful. Do you understand the rules?" Gai decided not to answer. Basco shook his head and nudged him with his foot. He put it on Gai's throat, cutting off his airway. Gai tried to push the foot away but it was no use. "Do you understand?" Gai nodded urgently, needing to breathe. "What was that?" Basco asked, moving his foot just enough that a little bit of air could get through.

 

Gai took several fast breaths and stared up at Basco with hatred. "Yes," he responds quietly.

 

"Yes...what?" Gai stared at him confused. He was pretty sure the question was a simple yes or no. Basco kicked him again, this time in the side. Gai tried to curl up into a ball, but that was hard to with his broken leg. "Yes what?"

 

"Yes...Basco?"

 

"Good," Basco praised. "Now." He took out his pistol and pointed it at Gai, crouching down. "Let's get down to business shall we? Tell me where I can find a sentai who has a grand power the other Gokaigers don't have yet."

 

"No." Gai yelled as Basco smacked him in the face with his pistol.

 

"You can make this very easy Gai-chan. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll give you back to your friends...relatively in one piece. Give something to get something, yeah? So-"

 

"No! Ah!" He screamed when Basco shot him in the non-broken leg.

 

"It's rude to interrupt people Gai-chan. Didn't Marvey-chan ever teach you any manners? Tell me a team and where to find them."

 

"N-no! I won't!"

 

Basco sighed and shot him in the shoulder. Gai was pretty sure it wasn't possible for this to get any more painful. "You can make this a lot shorter if you tell me. Any team at all."

 

Gai shook his head. "Never."

 

"You're very stubborn. I see why Marvey-chan likes you so much. Tell me now." He pointed his pistol at Gai's knee. He smiled at how Gai's eyes widened in fear and anticipation. He suddenly stood up and put his weapon away. "I'll leave you here to think about it. Good night Gai-chan." He smirked as Sally shut the cell door and locked it. "Sleep well." He left Gai alone, but not before shutting the light off and casting him in complete darkness.

 

Gai lay on the floor, in more pain than he'd ever been in. It was worse than that time he'd actually died. He moaned as he started dragging himself to the back. He winced and cringed, but kept going. He lay down on his non-injured back and stared up at the pitch black ceiling. "They're coming," he whispered. "They're coming." He closed his eyes fell into a blissfully pain free sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Hope you're ready for another chapter. If you don't hate us yet, don't worry, you will soon.

The morning after Gai went missing the Gokaigers were woken by Doc shouting excitedly.

"Everyone wake up! I'm getting a signal from Gai's Gokai Cellular again! It's in the city!" Immediately the other four Gokaigers ran over to the terminal, crowding around Doc to see the screen.

"Where is it?" asked Marvelous, who was gripping the side of the terminal in a way that made Doc afraid he would crack the screen.

"It's in a park, in the middle of the city. It just suddenly showed up a minute ago." 

"We're going there, now. Doc, stay here and contact us if anything happens to that signal." Doc nodded and the rest of the crew all but sprinted out the Galleon and in the direction of the park. They were all hopeful that they would find Gai, being his usual hyperactive and slightly idiotic self, but none of them were surprised when they got to the park and there was no Gai in sight.

"We should split up and search the park." Marvelous nodded to Joe.

"Good idea. When someone finds his cellular let the rest of us know right away," With that Marvelous turned and began thoroughly checking every possible place that the cellular could be. It didn't take him long before he saw it sitting in plain sight on a bench a little ways away from him, "I found it!" A few seconds after Marvelous' yell the other three appeared next to him.

Marvelous picked the cellular up off the bench and looked it over, searching for any sign of what had happened to Gai. Unfortunately the cellular was in the same condition it had been the last time any of them had seen it.

"Perhaps someone saw whoever left Gai-san's cellular here. We should ask the people nearby." Luka shook her head after casting a glance around.

"I doubt they saw anything. Whoever took Gai is sneaky and smart, they wouldn't let themselves be seen."

"Luka's right," Joe said, also looking around, "But that does narrow the possibilities." They all looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" 

"If the Zangyack had taken Gai they would have already publicly executed him." This took the others by surprise. They hadn't even thought of that.

"So then Gai was taken by someone other than the Zangyack. And this person is obviously good at not being seen or noticed," Luka concluded.

A sudden wave of anger came over Marvelous as he realized what was going on. "Basco..." 

Ahim nodded, looking as if she had reached the same conclusion. "It does seem most likely." 

"Why would Basco go through the trouble of kidnapping Gai and then not asking for our Ranger Keys or Grand Powers or something?" Luka asked.

Marvelous pulled out his Mobirates. "We're going to find out." He angrily typed the code that would call Basco. Marvelous barely had to wait a second before Basco answered.

"Well Marvey-chan, what a surprise." 

"Shut the hell up! Where's Gai!?" Basco chuckled and Marvelous had to stop himself from screaming at him again as Basco started talking.

"You're looking for Gai-chan? I suppose I may be able to help with that." 

"What did you do with him?" Marvelous asked, his voice dropping to a quiet but cold tone, "If you've hurt him I swear I'll-"

"Uh-uh Marvey-chan I wouldn't be making threats so carelessly. After all, if I do have Gai-chan then it's in your best interests to keep me happy, right?" The other three Gokaigers were looking at Marvelous in confusion and worry, wanting to know exactly what was going on.

"What do you want?" Once again Basco chuckled.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Bye now Marvey-chan." There was silence from the Mobirates and Marvelous just glared at it for a moment before throwing it at a nearby building, scaring a few civilians who were walking around.

"So Basco does have him?" Marvelous nodded to Luka as Ahim quickly ran over to where Marvelous' Mobirates had landed. When she returned with it she handed it back to Marvelous.

"We need to find a way to track Gai-san."

"Go tell Doc what's going on and help him figure it out." Without giving the others a chance to respond Marvelous stormed away from them.

"Should we go after him? He might do something that'll get him in trouble." Joe shook his head.

"He won't. Let's just go back to the Galleon and wait a few hours, he'll wear himself out. Then we can go get him."

"If you are sure that would be best then we should go inform Doc-san of what's happened." The three remaining Gokaigers left the park and headed back to the Galleon, hoping that once Doc knew what was going on he'd be able to help them find Gai.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently both of us are forgetful when it comes to updating this story so sorry about that in advance for when things get really intense and we inevitably forget to update. Speaking of things getting intense there's more of that fun torture tag in this chapter.

"Gai-chan!" Basco sang as he came in. "Wakey, wakey!" He flipped the light on and Gai moaned. He pushed himself up wincing and crying out a little in pain. "Good morning." Gai remained silent, determined that Basco would not get the best of him. He sat against the wall as the privateer approached him. "I hope you've had some time to consider your answer."

 

"I'm not telling you- ah!" Gai half gasped, half cried out when Basco put his foot on his broken leg.

 

"What's rule number three Gai-chan?"

 

"D-don't speak unless sp-spoken to. But you did-ah!"

 

"I didn't want a reply then," Basco reasoned. Gai painfully pulled his legs to his chest, thinking it would provide some protection from the psycho. He was already sick of Basco's mind games. "So Gai-chan, are you going to tell me what I want to know?"

 

Gai shook his head. "No."

 

Basco shook his head, almost like he was mocking Gai. "That's too bad." He grabbed Gai suddenly by the hair and dragged him away from the wall. Gai cried out in pain as he was literally experiencing it from head to toe. "I had hoped you'd come to your senses by now." He threw Gai on the ground and stood over him. "But it appears that I have to prove my point more." He took out his sword and swung it lazily in his hand as he circled Gai. "Tell me where I can find a sentai team."

 

"No!"

 

"Suit yourself." He swung his sword and it sliced across Gai's stomach. Gai half moaned, half yelled in pain. "Tell me."

 

"Never!" Gai tried to crawl away as Basco made several more cuts on his back. He didn't know where he thought he could go, but he just wanted to get away.

 

Basco laughed as he reached down and grabbed Gai by the ankle. He dragged the silver back, kicking him over onto his back. "Sit up. Sit up!" Gai pulled himself into a sitting position, wincing and cringing as he did. Basco crouched down and smirked at the way Gai pulled away from him. "Tell me Gai-chan, are you hungry?" Gai stared at him uncertainly, wondering what kind of a trap this could be. Basco suddenly back-handed him, nearly knocking him over. "I asked you a question, it's rude not to answer."

 

Gai swallowed his nervousness. "Yes. Basco!" he added quickly, noticing the villain raising his hand again. "Yes Basco."

 

"Then ponder this, I won't feed you until after you help me steal a grand power." Gai was actually surprised Basco planned to feed him at all. "So," he grabbed Gai's injured shoulder, getting another scream from him. "Tell me." Gai shook his head. Basco shook his head and tsked. He continued to squeeze Gai's shoulder and grabbed his broken leg as well.

 

"S-stop!" Gai yelled. He was starting to have a hard time breathing he was in so much pain. His vision had black on the edges. "Stop!"

 

"I'll stop if you tell me what I want to know."

 

"I-ah! N-ah! St-st-" It was getting hard to even form a coherent thought. He clenched his teeth, but nothing would help. He was starting to feel light-headed, but at the same time wide awake with the pain coursing through his body. He tried to back-up, but Basco had him too tight. "Megaranger!"

 

"What was that?" Basco asked, keeping constant pressure.

 

"M-Megaranger!" Gai gasped. "They're a sentai team. The 21st team."

 

"Where?"

 

"Mega Red is a teacher at a school." Gai tried to ignore the feeling of guilt that was spreading through him as he told Basco the name and location of the school. Basco smiled and let go.

 

"Very good Gai-chan," he said, patting Gai on the head. "Wasn't that easier than suffering?" He stood up and strode out. "Now let us just hope that you're telling the truth." He left Gai alone again, much to the silver's delight.

 

Gai whimpered as he pulled himself gently against the far wall. He winced and yelped as he pulled his legs up to his chest. He replayed the last few minutes in his head and put his head on his knees. He felt a few tears slip down his face in shame. "They're coming."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, yeah. A month's passed without an update.... Sorry about not updating in so long but we both got busy and completely forgot about posting a new chapter here. Hopefully now that we're both getting a little more free time we won't go a month without updating again (unfortunately I can't make any promises though). Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

It was nearing midnight by the time Marvelous had finally made his way back to the Galleon. He wasn't surprised to see that everyone was still awake as he immediately walked over to Doc, who was resting his head on the main terminal as various coordinates flashed on the screen.  
"You haven't found him yet?" Doc looked up and shook his head.  
"Not yet," he replied sadly.   
"Where have you been?" Marvelous glanced over at Luka, who was curled up with Ahim on the couch. They seemed like they had been flipping through the encyclopedia of past super Sentai teams that Gai had made for them before Marvelous had come in.  
"Doesn't matter. What are you doing with that?" Ahim showed a piece of paper to Marvelous.  
"We believed that Basco may still continue his search for Grand Powers so we were making a list of any that we don't currently possess." He took the piece of paper from her and scanned the list.   
"Megaranger, Kakuranger, BioMan, OhRanger, Go-Onger, Fiveman, GoGo Five and Sun Vulcan." Marvelous handed the paper back to them.  
"If we want to find Basco the most efficient way would be to watch the members of those teams," Everyone turned to look at Joe, "He'll go after them eventually." Marvelous nodded in agreement.  
"Yeah but Doc stays here. He's going to keep looking for any sign of where Basco is right now."   
"But Marvelous I doubt I'll be able to find anything. Basco's ship can't be picked up on radar." Marvelous glared at him.  
"You're the computer expert so think of some way to find him," he then looked around at the rest of his crew, "Get some sleep. Basco's ship may be invisible to radar but we can still try to find it by looking." Luka and Ahim nodded and towards their rooms but Joe didn't get up.  
"You're not planning on sleeping are you?" Marvelous shrugged and turned towards the exit of the Galleon.  
"I'm going to search that park again. There has to be something that Basco left behind or he might even be near there. Either way it's worth checking out." Joe rolled his eyes but knew better than to argue with Marvelous about something like this.  
"Don't do anything stupid without letting the rest of us know about it." After receiving a nod form Marvelous, Joe went to his room as well. Before he left Marvelous turned to Doc.  
"When you're done searching the coordinates for every point in the city you should sleep too."   
"I will," Doc replied as he turned back to the monitor. Marvelous left the Galleon and went back to the park where they had found Gai's cellular earlier.  
He walked the entire area of the park twice before he gave in and admitted there was nothing there. Before he left the park he went over to the bench that the cellular had been on before.  
"Why would Basco target Gai?" Marvelous asked to himself as he walked over. There were several reasons he could think of; Gai being the newest and younger member of the Gokaigers, him being easy to ambush, or even just because Basco had wanted to find a way to get to Marvelous, but none of these seemed particularly likely. Basco wasn't someone to do anything without at least two plans and, more importantly, there wasn't anything for Basco to gain from the scenarios Marvelous could think of. Marvelous kicked the bench out of frustration before walking back out of the park. As he made his way through the nearby streets he scanned the sky for the Free Joker.  
Not that Marvelous really expected to find anything but it was better than just sitting around until morning. He knew that if he had just idly tried to sleep that his mind would simply come up with every scene and outcome possible. But even with focusing on his search it was hard to keep that thought that Gai could already be dead or even worse from popping up in the back of his mind. He could almost hear Gai calling out to his friends for help and it only made him more anxious to find missing Gokaiger as quickly as possible. And when he did he was going to make sure that Basco learned the price of kidnapping a member of his crew.


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of us remembered to update, awesome! Just a reminder, we don't own Gokaiger, and at this point I'm sure you're all glad we don't. If you don't, don't worry you will.

"Gai-chan!" Basco smiled, coming in. Sally flanked him as he approached Gai's cell. "Let's go!"

"Go?" Gai asked in confusion. He was pretty sure was wasn't going anywhere. He had been shot in one leg and the other was broken. He was certain than anything more than dragging himself across his small cell was impossible. Basco though, apparently thought different because he unlocked the cell and walked over to Gai. He grinned as he pulled the gokaiger to his feet. Gai immediately yelled in pain and tried to fall back, but Basco held him up. 

Basco slapped Gai, who looked at him in confusion. 

"Rule number three. Seems like that's a hard one for you to remember," he commented as he started wrapping the end of a chain around the chain on Gai's shackles. "If you want to decrease the amount of pain you're in, I would suggest you remember it. Ok?"

"Yes...Basco."

Basco smirked and secured the second chain with a lock. "Now, let's go." Gai wondered if it was worth breaking the third rule again to remind Basco he couldn't walk. Then he decided it probably wouldn't matter because he knew if Basco wanted to drag him along, he would. Gai put as little pressure possible on his broken leg, meaning he had to pretty much hop on the one that had been shot. He did his best to follow, but Basco was walking awfully fast. Once they were on the ground, Gai couldn't help but feel a little hopeful. If he could get away from Baco, he might be able to find his way back to the Galleon.

He followed Basco into the woods, wondering where they could possibly be going. It occurred to him that maybe he'd already outlived his usefulness and now Basco was going to shoot him and leave him here. But then again, if Basco was going to kill him, he'd probably do it where the other Gokaigers could see. He was relieved when they finally stopped. 

"Stay here and keep an eye on him," Basco said to Sally, handing her the end of the chain he'd been using to lead Gai. "If he tries to escape, break something else." Gai shivered and Basco smirked. He left his two companions and Gai practically threw himself down in the ground. Sally looked at him, but he held his hands up. He rubbed his eyes. It was hard to sleep well when he was in constant pain all the time. He looked around, wondering what his chances of escape were at this point. He sighed in defeat, knowing he wouldn't make it very far in his condition.

When Basco returned, Gai heard someone trying, insanely, to reason with him. 

"I'm telling you, there's no need to harm the students."

"I harm whoever I want," Basco responded. He came into view, holding the arm of a man Gai recognized instantly. "Gai-chan, I trust you know who this is?" Gai nodded. Basco smiled at the fact that he didn't respond right away. "Who is this?"

"M-mega Red," Gai replied. 

"Correct," Basco smiled. "And now," he threw Mega Red on the ground. "I take your grand power."

"You can't do that-" the former sentai began, but Basco simply laughed.

"Oh yes I can," he said taking out his trumpet. "Thanks to Gai-chan here I knew exactly where to find you." Mega Red looked at Gai, who looked away in shame. He knew of the silver gokaiger, the earthling who'd joined the space pirates. That crew was slowly winning over all the sentai's support. The teacher could tell by the state the silver was in that he wasn't participating in this willingly. 

"Is that true, Gai?" 

Basco chuckled, clearly enjoying this. Especially since Gai didn't answer. Whether it was from shame or rule number three, he didn't care. "Answer him Gai-chan."

Gai nodded. "Yes. It's true."

Mega Red tried to think of some way to assure Gai that none of this was his fault, but he wasn't sure if it would even help. "Now then," Basco said, "let's get on with this." Gai looked away again, unable to watch. He closed his eyes and waited for the sound of the trumpet and another grand power getting into Basco's greedy hands. He waited tensely, then jumped when he heard something, but it wasn't what he was expecting to hear.

"Basco!" He opened his eyes and turned towards the sound, as did the rest of the group. Gai smiled when he saw the other Gokaigers coming towards them.

"Gai!" Doc gasped. The other gokaigers looked relieved to see him alive. Except Marvelous. First he saw that Gai was alive. Then he saw the dark bruises on his face and neck and the blood on his shirt. Then he saw the chain keeping Gai in place. 

"Marvey-chan!" Basco smiled. "How nice of you to join us."

"Basco," Marvelous snarled. "What're you doing?"

"Getting a grand power thanks to Gai-chan here." Marvelous pulled out his pistol and Basco laughed. "Do you really think it's smart to threaten the person who has not only one of your sentai on a leash, but a former one as well ready to be shot."

"Person is a bit of a stretch," Luka muttered and Joe nodded. Marvelous's hand tightened its grip when Basco mentioned having Gai on a leash. 

"Let Gai go, now."

"Or what?"

"I shoot."

Basco laughed. "Marvey-chan, you're in no position to make demands. Or threats." As if to prove his point he suddenly reached out and grabbed Gai by his hair. Gai cried out in pain and heard his friends call his name. 

"Let him go!" Marvelous yelled. Joe and Luka had grabbed the back of his jacket to prevent him from doing something stupid, like trying to attack Basco.

"Now that I really have you attention, I'm afraid there's a problem at Mega Red's school."

"He put bombs around the building!" Mega Red yelled. "He said he'd detonate them if I didn't go with him!"

"Bombs?!" Luka asked. She looked at Marvelous, as did the rest of the crew. He continued to stare down Basco. 

"Marvelous," Joe said. He knew they weren't going to save anyone if they continued to stand here. 

Marvelous sighed and lowered his weapon. Basco smirked and released Gai's head. Gai tried to move away from him, which Marvelous didn't miss. "Tick tock Marvey-chan," Basco smiled. "What will you do? Save the school or save Gai-chan and Mega Red's grand power?"

"Marvelous-San," Ahim said. "there are children involved. They're in danger."

Marvelous sighed. He could tell by the look Gai was giving him what choice he should make. "Let's get those bombs. Now!" The others nodded and headed back for the school. Marvelous looked at Gai, hating that he was this close to saving him. He sighed and followed the others. Maybe if they were quick enough they could get back in time to save Gai.

"Looks like Marvey-chan cares more about them than you," Basco said to Gai. He turned to the gokaiger and frowned. 

He rolled his eyes and grabbed Mega Red by the back of his shirt, pulling him away from Gai. "Sally check his chains. Make sure they're still tight." Mega Red gave Gai a look of apology. He'd hoped while Basco was distracted he could free him. But apparently no such luck existed. Gai shrugged, cringing in pain immediately after. He saw Basco raise his trumpet and looked away. He put his hands over his ears as the dreaded song began to play. It only slightly masked the sound though. 

When it was finally over, Gai turned back and Basco smiled. "Consider yourself lucky, Mega Red, I'm letting you leave with your life." He held out his hand and Sally handed Gai's chain back to him. "Let's go Gai-chan," he said, yanking Gai to his feet. "Before those pirates come back." Gai sighed, having no choice but to follow. Mega Red shook his head, knowing if he let Gai go there was a good chance the young sentai would not be saved. He jumped up and reached out, trying to get his hands on the chain. Sally got between him and Gai though and forced him back.

Mega Red stumbled back and watched as Basco disappeared with Gai. He sighed and turned back towards the school. He heard someone coming and wasn't sure how to feel when he saw that it was the Gokaigers. 

"The bombs are gone and your students are-" Doc began.

"Where's Gai!" Marvelous demanded. 

"Gone," Mega Red explained. "Basco got my grand power and left. With Gai."

"He's gone?" Luka asked. Joe sighed and looked away momentarily, anger building inside of him. Doc looked around sadly, as if he'd see their missing friend. 

"I'm sorry. I tried to save him. For what it's worth, I can tell he's not complying with Basco willingly."

Marvelous nodded, but confirmation that Basco was torturing Gai was not what he wanted right now. "We'll have to find him ourselves."

"Do you know which teams Basco might target next?"

Ahim nodded and Luka pulled a copy of their list from her coat pocket. "With Gai's knowledge," Luka said, handing it to him, "there's no way of knowing who's next."

"No, but this list is short. I can get in contact with these teams and warn them that Basco might come and he knows how to find them. And I'll tell them about Gai. I'm sure by taking one look at him, they'll know he's not a willing participant. I'll make sure they know to try and save him, or help him in any way they can."

"Thank you," Ahim said.

Mega Red nodded. "I should go. I have much to do."

Marvelous nodded and walked away. The other hurried to catch up with him. They all hoped any other sentai who encountered Gai could help him. Because at the moment, there wasn't much they could do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this is twice in a row we remembered to update! Anyway this chapter is a small break in the tension (not much though). Don't worry we'll get back to the utterly heartbreaking stuff next week. Also as a note for any Kamen Rider fans out there we have recently been challenged by one of our friends to "do our worst" to Mach from Kamen Rider Drive. We haven't finished the season yet but we'll be sure to do that soon so we can get started on that.

They were only halfway back to the Galleon when Marvelous stopped.

 

"Everyone has the next half hour free, use it however you want," he said without looking back at them, "After that we're starting up our search again. From the look of Gai's legs he wouldn't be able to walk very far so Basco has to be near here." Ahim gently placed a hand on Marvelous' arm.

 

"If you find him please contact us immediately." He nodded and Ahim stepped away, stopping by Doc and Luka's sides before all three left. For a minute Marvelous just stood still, not acknowledging that they had left or that Joe was still there.

 

"You made the right call." Marvelous scowled and turned to glare at Joe.

 

"Don't patronize me dammit." Joe shrugged and leaned against a nearby tree, hints of anger still on his face.

 

"I'm not because it's true," he looked Marvelous over, "It's also true you didn't sleep last night." Marvelous rolled his eyes.

 

"It was more important to search."

 

"You're going to cause us more trouble if you try to lead while sleep deprived." The scowl returned to Marvelous' face as he walked over to Joe.

 

"So I'm supposed to sleep while Basco has Gai captive and is torturing him? What kind of captain or leader in general would do that!?"

 

"One that wants to be at their best," Joe replied with more steel than he usually put into his words, matching Marvelous' glare.

 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Marvelous demanded in a dangerously quiet tone. Joe moved off the tree and stared Marvelous straight in the eye.

 

"If you don't sleep you won't be any help. You'll just get in the way," With a growl Marvelous swung his fist, aiming to hit Joe's face. However he was easily blocked, "This is what I mean. If you can't beat me when you're sleep deprived you can't beat Basco." Marvelous swung at Joe again, only to have Joe grab his wrist.

 

"Shut up! I'm not going to waste time while someone from my crew is being tortured for who knows what reason by a psychopath!" He tried to pull his wrist from Joe's hand but this only made Joe tighten his grip.

 

"There's nothing any of us can do until we find Basco. And you know he's too smart to let himself get caught," Joe finally let go of Marvelous' wrist, allowing him to take a step back, "But if you want to act like an idiot then do it in a way that won't hinder our search, got it?"

 

"Someone has to take on the responsibility of finding him and as the captain that's my job!"

 

"It's not only your responsibility!" Marvelous turned and was surprised to see Luka, Doc and Ahim walking towards him.

 

"What are you three doing back here?" Luka rolled her eyes at Marvelous.

 

"Come on, you didn't really think we'd really just go wander around for half an hour without searching did you? We came back to tell you that there were no signs of the Free Joker anywhere near here," she came over and cuffed Marvelous on the back of the head, "Looks like we came back just in time to stop you from making stupid assumptions too." Marvelous glared at her.

 

"What is that supposed to mean?"

 

"It's not just your responsibility to search for Gai," Doc said, traces of anger still in his voice from when he had yelled at Marvelous, "We're all worried so don't decide for us that it's your job to find him." Ahim nodded in agreement and smiled softly at Marvelous.

 

"There is no need for you to carry this burden by yourself. And if you truly believe that's the best course of action then I have to agree with Doc-san and Luka-san."

 

"It’s my job to protect my crew, not any of yours." Once again Luka rolled her eyes and she sighed in exasperation.

 

"So that's what you've been so pissy about. Listen idiot, we all protect each other. That's why you don't have to act like some dumb vigilante and search by yourself." Marvelous stared in shock at all of them, not sure what else to do.

 

"Go back to the Galleon and sleep," Joe said, coming over to stand next to Marvelous, "We'll handle the search for the next couple of hours."

 

"And if refuse?" Luka grinned and pulled a small bottle out of her pocket. She held it up so that Marvelous could see that it contained a clear liquid of some sort.

 

"We'll make you." Marvelous realized that there was no way out of this and he sighed.

 

"Fine but if you find anything you better let me know right away."

 

"Of course," Doc assured with a nod. Marvelous looked around at them one more time before heading back to the Galleon.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you can all thank Bandgeek for reminding me to update this this week because I would have completely forgotten. I just got back from an anime convention and in my exhaustion I actually forgot this existed so yeah... Anyway onto the chapter! Enjoy!

Gai tried to think of another possible way to escape. He kept coming back to the fact that he couldn't run though. It didn't matter if he did manage to get out of the cell, because the fact was he'd have to run to get away from Basco. He sighed and rested his head against the wall. He stared up at the ceiling, guilt starting to consume him. He couldn't believe he'd given Basco all the information needed to take Megaranger's grand power. "I betrayed my team," he whispered.

"I betrayed a former sentai. My hero." He gently pulled his legs up to his chest, wincing and cringing.

 

"Gai-chan!" Basco said coming in. Gai looked up as Sally opened the cell door. Basco crouched down and set the tray of food down. "I did say that I would feed you and I don't need you dying of hunger. You're useless dead." Gai looked at the food uncertainly. He was pretty sure that Basco had done something to it. Drugged it or something. "Aren't you hungry?" Gai shook his head. He felt sick to his stomach just thinking about what'd happened earlier. "I have some work to do," Basco told him standing up. "If you don't eat Gai-chan, then I'll have to force feed you." Basco smirked at him and Gai shrunk back a little. He got the message. He couldn't get away with letting himself starve to death. Basco would make sure he stayed alive.

 

Gai waited until Basco and Sally were gone to reach for the food. He picked at the piece of bread with his fingers. He was surprised that it didn't actually taste that bad. His hand started shaking as he heard Mega Red asking him if he'd helped Basco. "It's true," he whispered. He set the bread down on the tray and realized both his hands were shaking. He suddenly couldn't see straight and threw the tray across the cell. He felt tears start to fall down his face. He curled up and grabbed at his hair with his hands. "I told him. I helped him." He wanted to get out of there. He knew Basco would want another grand power soon. "I won't help him again. I won't. I won't! If you can hear me Basco, I won't help you again!" Gai laid down on his side and stared out at the cell.

 

"I wonder what the others are doing," he mused. He imagined the door opening and Marvelous coming in instead of Basco. The others would follow, all happy to see him. He pictured himself going over, well crawling over, to the edge of the cell. Doc would assure him that he was safe and that he was going to be ok, with Ahim helping him. Marvelous would start muttering about how dead Basco was going to be. Gai imagined himself telling Marvelous how sorry he was that he'd helped Basco. That was when the Marvelous in his head stopped and nodded.

 

"That's right," he said. "You did help Basco. You helped him get a grand power that should've been ours."

 

"You spent all that time talking about how great the super sentai are," Luka agreed. "But you chose to betray someone you called a hero to save yourself."

 

"That doesn't sound very heroic indeed," Ahim nodded. "Gai-san, you acted very-"

"Weak," Joe cut in. "You're weak if you can't take a few hits to protect what you care about. I think that makes you a very bad pirate and an even worse super sentai."

 

"You betrayed us," Marvelous said lowly. "You aided our enemy, someone who has done so much to hurt us. You know we need every grand power, and yet you only thought of saving yourself from him." Marvelous suddenly turned and walked away. "If you want to live like a traitor, then you can stay with one. You two should get along perfectly."

 

"No!" Gai yelled. "Marvelous-san, please! Don't leave me here! Please! Help me! Please!" He blinked and started to cry. "Please! Please don't leave me here!"

 

Basco stood just inside the door, completely unnoticed. He smiled and laughed quietly as he listened to Gai cry. "I thought it would take longer to break him. Clearly I was wrong." He smirked. "Wonder how Marvey-chan would take the news?" He looked at Sally. "Keep the ship hidden. I'm going down to the planet for a little bit. Tomorrow Gai-chan will tell me another team. Or at least," he smiled as he left the room. "I'm going to start convincing him to."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 4th of July to everyone in America! This chapter's going up a little later in the day because we went to the fireworks tonight. Anyway, I'm nearly done watching Drive so that Mach fic might start getting written sometime in the near future. Now onto tonight's chapter (if it looks a little weird my laptop broke so I'm now updating from my phone. Sorry).

Despite agreeing to go back to the Galleon to sleep Marvelous hasn't managed to get even a moment of sleep. He knew that by now he should be exhausted but despite his best attempts to sleep he couldn't get his mind to slow down enough. Which is why, when his Mobirates went off, he was able to answer it immediately.  
"Did you guys find anything?" He demanded before giving whoever was on the other end a chance to speak.  
"I think you've got me confused for someone else Marvey-chan," Basco said with a chuckle.  
"Basco! What the hell do you want?"  
"No wonder Gai-chan is so rude, he's been following your example. Don't worry though, I'll make sure to set him right for you." Marvelous' grip on his Mobirates tightened and he got up from his bed to grab his coat. He had no idea what Basco was planning but he was determined to be ready for it.  
"What do you want Basco? You didn't kidnap a member of my crew for nothing." Marvelous could practically hear the smile in Basco's voice as he answered.  
"Of course I didn't but that doesn't mean I have to tell you. Although I might be more willing to talk if you were to meet with me face to face."  
"Tell me where you are then. I'd love to come down there and see how you like being tortured." Basco chuckled again although this time it was colder.  
"Now now Marvey-chan there's no need to be like that. Remember what I said about how it's in your best interests to keep me happy?" Basco sighed mockingly, "But then I shouldn't be surprised. Now, how about you just come outside and we can talk?"  
"Fine," Marvelous ended his call with Basco and went out to the main cabin to find Navi. He didn't trust Basco to not attack him and he wanted a back-up plan just in case, "Hey, Bird! Where are you!?" Navi flew out from the kitchen, almost hitting Marvelous in the head.  
"Don't call me 'Bird'!" He rolled his eyes and grabbed Navi before she could fly off.  
"Whatever. Listen, if I'm not back in the Galleon in an hour call everyone else. Got it?"  
"Are you going to do something dangerous?" Marvelous shrugged and placed Navi on the table.  
"Who knows? Make sure you remember what I told you just in case." He left the cabin of the Galleon wondering if he really was walking into a dangerous situation. One could never be sure what to expect from Basco.  
When he reached the ground Marvelous could see Basco standing a little ways away from the Galleon. Marvelous pulled out his pistol and walked over to him.  
"Not feeling friendly today Marvey-chan?" Basco asked with a smile as he looked at the pistol.  
"What do you want?" Marvelous demanded, not wanting to give Basco any openings. Basco chuckled and his smile widened.  
"Right down to business then. Well right now I've got everything I want; Grand Powers, an advantage over you and Gai-chan. Of course, just one extra Grand Power is pretty pathetic so I'll have to start looking again soon."  
"How did you find the Mega Rangers Grand Power? There's no way you could have known where to find it." The smile on Basco's face turned into a smirk and Marvelous had to resist the urge to shoot Basco. For now, he couldn't afford killing him.  
"You haven't figured it out yet Marvey-chan? I'm disappointed," Basco shook his head, "Well since you're so curious I suppose I can indulge you. Gai-chan has been helping me. He knows so much about all the teams after all." Marvelous scowled and pointed his pistol at Basco.  
"That's why you kidnapped and tortured him!?" Basco nodded, his smirk never leaving his face despite the fact that he now had a pistol pointing at him.  
"Well of course. I had to convince him to help me somehow, he was very loyal to you. Although not as loyal as I thought apparently. It didn't take him long to break," The world around Marvelous became tinted with red and he charged at Basco, pulling out his sword to slash at him. Basco easily side stepped him however and he laughed, "Killing me won't accomplish anything. After all, Gai-chan's life is in my hands and you don't know where he is so even if you did kill me you'd have no way to find him. Now that would be just terrible." Marvelous tried to calm himself down as he processed Basco's words. As much as he hated to admit it, Basco was right.  
"Give me back Gai. Now."  
"You really don't understand negotiating do you Marvey-chan? I might be inclined to return him if you hand over your Ranger Keys and Grand Powers. If you're really that worried about him then that shouldn't be a problem, right?" Basco walked over to Marvelous, "I'll give you some time to think about it. Call me when you've made up your mind." Marvelous didn't look at Basco as he walked past him. He knew that if he did he would lose his cool again and would do something he would regret. When Basco's footsteps had disappeared Marvelous pulled out his Mobirates and called the rest of his crew.  
"Everyone get back to the Galleon now."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we forgot to update again but hey, it was only a day late. Anyway all the normal "we don't own Gokaiger" stuff is still the same (unfortunately). Enjoy the chapter!

"Marvelous," Joe said as he and other others walked into the main cabin. "What's going on?"   
"I talked to Basco," Marvelous said. This took them by surprise a bit.  
"When?" Doc asked.  
"Earlier."  
"Alone?" Joe asked. He gave Marvelous a look that spoke volumes about what he thought about that. Marvelous simply shrugged him off.  
"What did he want?" Luka asked, sitting down on the couch with Ahim.  
"It's Basco, what do you think he wants? I know for sure now that...that he kidnapped Gai because of his knowledge of the super sentai teams."  
"He's using that information to find them and get grand powers," Joe nodded. "So Gai really did tell him where to find Megaranger."  
"And that we didn't have that grand power," Luka added. "Basco wouldn't go after someone who already gave their grand power to us."  
"This also means what happened won't be a one time thing," Doc said. "Basco won't settle for getting one. He'll want to use Gai to get all of the ones we don't have."  
Marvelous nodded, sitting down in his chair. He opened up the treasure chest full of ranger keys. One of Gai's keys was on top. "Gai may have already given up one, but he won't give up more that easily. No matter what Basco thinks, Gai is tough."  
Ahim nodded. "But everyone has a breaking point. Including Gai-san."  
"And Basco is certainly someone capable of pushing people to their breaking points." He thought over what Basco had said. He highly doubted if he gave the keys and grand powers to him that he would just let Gai go. More likely he'd keep Gai and the grand powers. He knew Basco couldn't to be trusted in any capacity, but he couldn't help but think that Gai was suffering every minute he spent there.   
Joe saw Marvelous thinking and knew there was more to his conversation with Basco then he was letting on. "What else did Basco say? He obviously said something else. What was it?"  
Marvelous sighed. "He wants the ranger keys and grand powers in exchange for Gai."  
"Should've seen that one coming," Luka muttered and Ahim nodded.   
"How did he react when you said no?" Joe asked. Marvelous didn't answer right away. "You did tell him no, right?"  
"I didn't give him an answer," Marvelous replied.  
"Marvelous, you know Basco can't be trusted," Luka said. "He's not going to just give Gai back to us."  
"I know that! I know we can't trust him and I know that we can't give him the keys or grand powers! But I also know that he's torturing Gai to get what he wants and he'll continue to do so as long as he has him."  
"None of us want him to hurt Gai. He's a member of our crew and we will find him come hell or high water."   
"Basco will pay for this," Doc nodded. "We can rescue Gai."  
Marvelous nodded. "I know. We have to."  
"Basco isn't going to be happy when we tell him," Joe said. He didn't need to say, but they all knew that it probably meant bad things for Gai. Marvelous nodded and took out his mobirate. He put in the code that called Basco and barely had to wait a second.  
"Hello Marvey-chan," Basco greeted. "I'm not sure if I should be surprised you've made up your mind this quickly."  
"I'm not giving you the grand powers or the keys."  
Basco tsked. "I had hoped Gai-chan's safety meant more to you."  
"If you hurt Gai, there is no where in the universe you can hide that I won't find you. And when I do, I will end you."  
"Cute," Basco smiled. "But not good news for Gai-chan. It's shame. Tell me Marvelous, he thinks that you'll rescue him, so how long before he stops thinking that? How about when I tell him that you chose the keys and grand powers over him? Well, if he ever stops screaming when I'm done with him I'll let you know." He hung up and Marvelous took several seconds to slowly unclench his fingers from his mobirate. He shut it and sat very stiffly in his chair.   
"We need to find Gai," he said. "The sooner the better."   
"We should continue to monitor the teams that Basco will go after," Doc said. "We can use Gai's encyclopedias he made us and I'm sure there's something in his room that will be useful. If we find them first maybe we can beat Basco at his own game."  
Joe nodded. "Seems like a good plan. We don't have a lot of other options."  
"Then let's do this," Marvelous said. "Let's get to work."


	13. Chapter 13

Ahim was the one that had been chosen to search Gai's room. In any other circumstance Doc or Joe probably would have been chosen but they both had more important jobs to do, while Luka was busy analyzing the data in Gai's encyclopedias. Ahim wasn't surprised when she opened Gai's door to find that the walls of his room were covered from top to bottom with pictures and posters of the previous Super Sentai teams. His desk, bureau, and nightstand were littered with different figures and replicas. It made his room seem messy yet somehow organized at the same time. Everything in the room so obviously pointed to Gai as the one who lived there that even if someone hadn't known he lived there before they would have been able to guess.  
As Ahim entered Gai's room she felt a sharp pain go through her chest. Being surrounded by the things Gai loved without him here made Ahim's fear for him all the more real. She knew that Basco wasn't pleased by their refusal to hand over the Ranger Keys and Grand Powers. That much had been obvious from the look on Marvelous' face after he had talked to Basco. Ahim tried not to let thoughts of what could be happening to her dear friend cross her mind as she made her way to Gai's desk. She looked through all the drawers, hoping to find some new information that wasn't in the encyclopedias he had made for them, but there was no such luck.   
It seemed like he had given them all the knowledge he had about the Super Sentai teams that preceded them.  
The next place Ahim checked was the nightstand by Gai's bed but the only thing in the drawer was a book of some kind. She pulled it out and sat down on the edge of the bed. Ahim flipped the book over to look at the cover and was surprised to see a picture of them all. Opening to the first page of the book revealed what it was. Gai had been keeping a scrapbook about them ever since he had joined the crew. As Ahim flipped through the pages she saw pictures that she didn't remember Gai taking, ones that captured how they all acted around each other personally. Each picture also had a caption of some sort written underneath it to explain what was going on.  
By the time Ahim had reached the last page she felt tears sliding down her cheeks. She placed the scrapbook back into the nightstand drawer and stood up, drying her cheeks.  
"Don't worry Gai-san, we will save you."  
*****************************  
Luka sat on the couch in the main cabin studying the encyclopedia given to her by Gai. It held everything someone would ever need to know about the previous Super Sentai teams but so far she hadn't found a way to know which team Basco would target next. She knew it probably wouldn't be the Kakurangers, as no one had seen any of the members in years, but that was as far as she had managed to narrow it down. After half an hour Luka was starting to feel that what she was doing was useless.  
She knew that they had to try to figure this out but sitting around and studying had never been her strong point. Luka was the type of person to take action, not sit around staring at a book while one of her closest friends was going through hell. She felt that she should be out scanning the sky for the Free Joker, putting her nightly training to good use. She had sharper eyes than anyone from the crew and it felt like they were going to waste here. But this was the job she had been assigned and Luka was planning on doing her best to figure out something. She had to to try and save Gai. Because after what had happened tonight, they all knew they had to save him soon.  
******************************  
It wasn't a surprise to Joe that he had been assigned to look after Marvelous. He was really the only one who could handle Marvelous when he was in this bad of a mood. Joe knew that most of Marvelous' anger and frustration was directed towards himself and what he thought he should be able to do. The standards that Marvelous usually held himself to were insane but most of the time he was, somehow, able to reach them. And Joe had a feeling that that's why this was hitting Marvelous so hard, because he couldn't meet his standard for taking care of the crew.  
"Why the hell are you so calm about all of this?" Joe looked across the dining table to see Marvelous staring at him. He shrugged before answering.  
"I figured that keeping a level head was better than freaking out about all this." That wasn't necessarily true however. Joe was just as worried as worried about Gai as the rest of the crew but he knew better than to let himself imagine what might be happening to Gai. During his time in the Zangyack army he had seen others tortured for information before and imagining Gai in their places would just distract him from saving Gai.  
It still didn't stop Joe from wishing that it had been the Zangyack who had taken Gai instead of Basco. They were predictable and easy to outsmart. The Zangyack would have tried to publicly execute Gai, giving the Gokaigers the opening they needed to save him. Gai would have been safe by now if he had been lucky enough to get captured by the Zangyack instead of Basco.  
*****************************  
Doc felt useless as he tried for the third time to locate the Free Joker. He was supposed to be the expert with computers, the one who could anything with them. Yet here he was unable to save one of his best friends because he couldn't figure out a solution. It wasn't just his inability to locate Basco that made Doc feel useless, it was what had happened the day Gai had disappeared. That had been the only time he had allowed Gai to go out shopping alone, all because Gai had insisted on not burdening his friends.  
He couldn't shake the guilt that he had felt ever since Marvelous had brought up Gai's absence. Different scenarios constantly played out in his head showing what would have happened if he had gone with Gai and the hell he must be going through now. But none of them ever got him any closer to figuring out how to find his friend. Basco's ship was untraceable, as if it didn't exist. Doc knew that there had to be a way to find him though, he refused to let himself believe that there was the chance that they'd never be able to rescue Gai. He had to find a way to figure out the location of that ship.  
So Doc ran through every situation he could think of, every possible solution, in his head as he started up the search for the fourth time. By the time the latest scan finished Doc had realized something horrible. That for the first time, he couldn't think of a solution. Even though his friend's life was on the line.


End file.
